La Perouse Whale

Summary: A very weathered engraving of a whale and its calf, on the headland at La Perouse.

  • Art type/s: Rock engraving
  • Number of motifs: 3
  • Motif/s: Fish, Whale
  • Quality: 1/5
  • Condition of art: Partially Destroyed, Weathered
  • View site sketch
  • Year first recorded: 1898
  • Originally Recorded by: W.D. Campbell, R.H. Mathews
  • Campbell Reference: BOTANY Plate 3 Fig 2 in Aboriginal Carving of Port Jackon and Broken Bay (Download)
  • Mathews Reference: The Rock Paintings and Carvings of the Australian Aborigines in Journal of the Anthropological Institute, vol. 25, p.147-150.
  • R. H. Mathews, “Rock Carvings and Paintings by the Australian Aborigines” in “Culture in Translation: The anthropological legacy of R.H. Mathews by Martin Thomas (2007)

Is this the remains of a whale carving and its calf, that was once clearly visible on the rocks at the southern end of Frenchmans Bay? Described as a “fine carving of a whale” the engraving is 38 feet long, and in the middle of the whale is the calf. The engraving was first documented by W.D. Campbell in 1981, when the local Aboriginal people informed him that this was a “bora” whale

img 5333 lr La Perouse Whale

A large fish, and what may be a tomahawk were recorded nearby, but these engravings are very faded.

engraving la perouse La Perouse Whale

Subscribe via Email

Enter your email address to subscribe to Hiking the World, and receive notifications of new posts by email. (A hike is added every 1-2 weeks, on average.)

Join 1,164 other subscribers

0 Comments

Leave a Reply

Aboriginal Sites by National Park

Aboriginal Rock Art – Maroota and Marramarra NP
Located to the north-west of Sydney, just south of the Dharug and Yengo National Parks, Maroota has a high concentration of (known) Aboriginal sites. Many more Aboriginal heritage sites are located in the Marramarra National Park. The original inhabitants of the area were the Darug people.
Aboriginal Rock Art – Yengo National Park
Yengo National Park was an important spiritual and cultural place for the Darkinjung and Wonnarua People for thousands of years, and 640 Aboriginal cultural sites are recorded in the park and nearby areas.
Aboriginal Rock Art – Lane Cove
Over 40 sites have been recorded within the park; many were located along the river bank and were flooded by the building of the weir in 1938.